Lady Guinevere and the Rogue with a Brogue - Julie Johnstone Page 0,25

a viselike grip. It would be the worst sort of ironic fate to have saved Lady Constantine from ruin only to be ruined herself. That was something she perhaps should have considered more thoroughly before allowing Lady Constantine to depart.

“I have a paltry dowry,” she said, tugging on her wrist to no avail. “Hardly worth sneezing at.”

“I’ll muddle along with it somehow,” he replied, yanking her hard against his chest.

“Release me at once!” she hissed, keeping her voice low in case he had arranged for someone to catch him with Lady Constantine and that someone was perhaps very nearly upon them. She could possibly explain away being alone in the library with him if they were standing on opposite sides of the room, but it would be hopeless if they were chanced upon with her in his arms. The idea of being forced to wed the man made her stomach turn.

“By my reckoning,” Lord Charolton drawled, “my plan should come to fruition in a few short breaths. Patience, my dear.”

“I do not possess much of that,” she muttered. She tried to bring her knee up to injure him, but her blasted skirts prohibited the movement.

He caught her knee with his hand and laughed. “This is an even better picture to present. I think perhaps I’ll kiss you to complete the picture.” He pushed her leg down and pressed the length of his body against hers.

“Lord Charolton, release me!” she yelped, but instead, his lips crushed over hers.

The shock of the unwanted contact stilled her for one breath, but before she could react, he broke the contact. She staggered backward with a gasp as Asher jerked Lord Charolton away from her and then sent his fist into the man’s nose. It connected with a crunch, and Lord Charolton howled, doubling over.

Asher turned toward her, his face a mask of cold, hard fury. “Are ye unharmed?”

Was she? Her heart beat so hard it hurt her ears. She brought trembling fingertips to her bruised, throbbing lips. This was the second time in her life a man had kissed her without asking permission, but at least Kilgore’s kiss, though unwanted, had been gentle.

Asher’s gaze softened to one of concern as he looked between her and the still doubled over Lord Charolton. “Guin?” he said in little more than a whisper. “Are ye all right?”

“You mustn’t call me Guin,” she replied, her voice trembling as terribly as her hands were. She wrapped her arms around her waist and took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m unharmed. Ash—Your Grace”—she caught herself barely in time—“I fear someone may be coming.”

“Ye have nothing to fear, my lady,” he replied before taking Lord Charolton by his collar to yank the man upright. “I redirected the two gossiping ladies headed in this direction before I arrived here.”

The relief that filled her at his words was dampened by her roiling stomach. She never had been one for the sight of blood.

“You have broken my nose,” Lord Charolton whined to Asher as if on cue with her thoughts of his predicament.

“I’ll break a great deal more than that if ye do not leave this ball immediately. And,” Asher continued, his face and tone growing threatening, “if ye ever even look Lady Guinevere’s way again, I’ll see ye over the barrel of my pistol. Do ye understand me?”

Lord Charolton, a rather peacock of a man, turned green but managed to nod. As he started for the library door, Guinevere said, “And if you ever try to ruin another lady again, the duke will also meet you with his pistol.”

Asher looked at her in surprise, and she shrugged helplessly. She could have sworn he smiled faintly, but he turned his attention to Lord Charolton once more as the man, in his haste to quit the room, knocked into the same table that had trapped her. A few grunts later, Lord Charolton was gone.

Asher, before she even realized what he intended, stepped to the library door and clicked the lock into place.

Her pulse quickened. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she had been nearly accosted moments earlier, and her nerves, which he naturally jumbled up anyway, were tight as knots. When he turned to her, aching concern showed on his face, and to her utter horror, unexpected tears filled her eyes.

“What’s this?” He closed the distance between them and brought his fingers to her cheeks to wipe away her tears.

His touch was so gentle, so tender that she forgot their past for a moment and blurted